Following the 2016 DC Rebirth continuity relaunch, Wonder Woman's outfit was redesigned to resemble the one worn in the film Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. This outfit is a red bustier with a gold eagle, a blue leather skirt with gold edges with two stars, and knee-high red boots with gold knee guards and accents. Her tiara once again is gold with a red star. She occasionally wears a red cape with a gold clasp and edges.[volume & issue needed] She continues to wear this updated outfit in DC Universe, the continuity established after Rebirth.
In 2016, DC Comics once again relaunched all of its publications as part of the "DC Rebirth" continuity reboot, and the new fifth volume of Wonder Woman was released bi-monthly with writer Greg Rucka. This fifth volume of Wonder Woman is part of the "DC Universe", the current continuity established after Rebirth. Initially, the new series does not use a regular storyline that exists between each issue; instead two separate storylines share the book, with an installment of one story published every other issue, and those of the other storyline published in between those. This practice began with the storyline "The Lies" for the odd numbered issues, and "Year One" for the even numbered issues. The new storyline as presented in these issues effectively retcons the events from the previous New 52 series. "The Lies"[51] storyline reveals that a number of events from the previous Wonder Woman series in which Diana was made the Queen of the Amazons and the God of War, was in fact all an illusion created by a mysterious villain, and she had never once been back to Themyscira ever since she left, nor is she capable of returning there. The "Year One" story is presented as an all-new origin story for Diana,[52] which reveals how she received her powers from the Olympian Gods,[53] which was intended to bring her back to her classical DC roots. Wonder Woman appears in DC Rebirth with a revised look, which includes a red cape and light armor fittings. Along with her lasso and bracelets, she now regularly utilizes her sword and shield. Wonder Woman: Rebirth artist Liam Sharp described the new armor as a utilitarian piece which allows her to move more freely.[54] Starting from Issue 26, the series returned to a regular storyline between each issue.
Wonder Woman, Hermes and Zola is at a café where a guy called Lennox, who knew that Zola is pregnant with Zeus and who Wonder Woman and Hermes really is arrived there, and tells to Wonder Woman that he is Diana’s brother. He tells to Diana that she has to be at the London Bridge at six, or she’d regret it. She’s there at six, and Poseidon arrives, and tells Diana that he wants to be the new god of the gods, whereas Lennox goes into a cave shown to him by Hermes, and there he meets Hades who also wants to claim the throne of the Heavens. After Hera arrives, Wonder Woman tricks all of them, and Hades goes back into his cave, and tricks Zola to come to him and kidnap her, he told Diana that they struck a bargain, and when she has fulfilled her’s, she shall get Zola back.
Steve Rose in The Guardian criticized the film for failing to explore the material's potential for "patriarchy-upending subversion".[221] Peter Travers of Rolling Stone criticized the film's over-reliance on exposition: "Wonder Woman is hobbled by a slogging origin story and action that only comes in fits and starts. Just when Gadot and director Patty Jenkins...are ready to kick ass, we get backstory."[222]
As the daughter of Zeus, Wonder Woman has incredible control over the supernatural divine energy of the Olympian Gods, which she usually emits through her Bracelets of Submission. When she clashes her bracelets together, she releases a large spherical blast of orange (or sometimes white-hot) energy, with it being powerful enough to accidentally injure Antiope, send the mighty gods Ares and Steppenwolf flying back, and even push back the gigantic monster Doomsday. At full power, Wonder Woman could generate these shock waves from her body, notably to destroy the restrains Ares put her in and knock down a small German battalion with a very powerful omni-directional shock wave. She was also capable of using the energy to shield herself, as the debris Ares sent flying at her disintegrated against the invisible field as she built up her attack. She could also freeze the momentum of targets in front of her, causing Ares to be forcibly suspending in the air when he tried flying into her before she blasted him away. Wonder Woman can also transmit this energy through her shield. By striking one of her bracelets with her shield, she generated an energy wave that knocked down a bridge, and Cyborg and Steppenwolf with it.
A sharpshooter and ally of Steve Trevor.[48] On his role, Bremner said, "I play a character who's enlisted by Wonder Woman to help save the world as part of a small, unlikely band". Describing his character, Bremner stated "He's a shellshocked soldier who's been discharged from the war and is brought back to help on a secret mission".[50] On working with Jenkins, Bremner commented, "Patty Jenkins is a force of nature. She has fantastic vision, strength and enthusiasm, which is completely infectious and motivates a cast and crew of thousands to really go beyond themselves."[51]
In order to prove her devotion to her people, the Amazons issued a challenge to Diana, one she would have to meet in two days. In the meantime, the Justice League had tracked the insectoid queen down to a remote mountain. The League journeyed deep into the mountain and encountered the queen. Diana condemned her for the lives she has taken, but the insectoid queen replied that it was Diana’s actions, namely her throwing of the First Born into the depths of the Earth, that awoke the insectoids from their slumber.[54]
When faced with a larger threat, Diana will wear her Amazon battle armour for added protection as well as use martial weapons such as swords. Technically speaking as well, as reimagined under the George Perez 1980s reboot, the iconic costume is in fact simply the breastplate of this armour. She will also additionally use a shield for added defense when she deems it necessary.
Due to the format of most golden age comics, the majority of story arcs at the time for all characters were the same, Wonder Woman included. More accurately that is to say that there were not story arcs at all, as issues contained two to three stories, all of which started and concluded within the issue in question. There was therefore not much continuity in Wonder Woman until she reached the silver age. The few exceptions to this were in issues which contained a common theme, such as Wonder Woman meeting some leprechauns and each of the three stories dealing with that. Alternately there were some common themes for the character at the time, one of which was dealing with enemy saboteurs. These were mostly contemporary, and thus started as either the National Socialists in Germany or the Imperial Japanese. Later these became others.
In the first story arc, Wonder Woman meets and protects a young woman named Zola, from Hera's wrath. Zola is pregnant with Zeus's child and Hera, seething with jealousy intends to kill the child.[62] [63][64][65] [66][67] The major event in this story is the revelation of Diana's true parentage. Long ago, Hippolyta and Zeus battled each other. Their battle ended with the couple making love and thus Diana was conceived.[62] The first six issues of the New 52 series are collected in a hardcover titled Wonder Woman Vol. 1: Blood.[68]
In her debut in All Star Comics #8, Diana was a member of a tribe of women called the Amazons, native to Paradise Island – a secluded island set in the middle of a vast ocean. Captain Steve Trevor's plane crashes on the island and he is found alive but unconscious by Diana and fellow Amazon, and friend, Mala. Diana has him nursed back to health and falls in love with him. A competition is held amongst all the Amazons by Diana's mother, the Queen of the Amazons Hippolyta, in order to determine who is the most worthy of all the women; Hippolyta charges the winner with the responsibility of delivering Captain Steve Trevor back to Man's World and to fight for justice. Hippolyta forbids Diana from entering the competition, but she takes part nonetheless, wearing a mask to conceal her identity. She wins the competition and reveals herself, surprising Hippolyta, who ultimately accepts, and must give in to, Diana's wish to go to Man's World. She then is awarded a special uniform made by her mother for her new role as Wonder Woman and safely returns Steve Trevor to his home country.[86][87]
Magic (Formerly): When she was a child, Diana was marked by the goddess Hecate and bestowed with a fraction of her magical ability.[108] This power lay dormant until it was activated by the Upside-Down Man. Zatanna remarked that Wonder Woman's magical power was unlike anything she had ever seen or felt, and Diana possessed at least enough power to cast out the Upside-Down Man, an immensely powerful demon, from the world.[109] After the Justice League Dark defeated Hecate, the Witchmarked's power was taken from them and absorbed by Circe.[110]
Elise Jost of Moviepilot observed that "Gadot's take on Wonder Woman is one of those unique cases of an actor merging with their story, similar to Robert Downey Jr.'s Tony Stark. Gal Gadot is Wonder Woman, and Wonder Woman is Gal Gadot."[202] Jost praised Gadot's interpretation of Wonder Woman as the one in which Gadot "absolutely nails the character's unwaveringly positive outlook on life. She's a force of nature who believes in the greater good; her conviction that she's meant to save the world is stronger than her bullet-deflecting shield. She's genuine, she's fun, she's the warm source of energy at the heart of the movie."[202] The Federalist suggests that Wonder Woman is "a story of Jesus". "The movie is wrapped up in faux Greek mythology, true, but there's no mistaking the Christology here."[219] "Perhaps Christ in the form of a beautiful and kick-ass Amazon is all that our contemporary society can handle right now", stated M. Hudson, a Christian feminist.[219] On HuffPost cultural critic, G. Roger Denson, who regards the superhero genre as a source of contemporary "Mainstream Mythopoetics" ("the making of new yet vitally meaningful, if not symbolic, stories filled with imagery reflecting, yet also shaping and advancing, the political, legal, moral and social practices of today"), wrote that the "No Man's Land" scene "that people are crying over in theaters and raving about afterward happens to be among the most powerfully mythopoetic scenes ever filmed at the same time it is one of the oldest myths to have been utilized by artists and writers after it had been invented by early military strategists and leaders." Specifically "used by director Patty Jenkins", the scene raises "the esteem for powerful yet compassionate women as heroes and leaders to a level equal with that of men for having won over a huge and adoring popular audience around the world".[220]
A fight broke out among the heroes for possession of the box and was only ended when John Constantine took the box, being the only one capable of doing so without being corrupted. Zatanna and Constantine took the box to the temple of Hephaestus, where the three Justice Leagues had converged again.[69] After yet another battle between heroes, the box went dormant and the Justice Leagues discovered a Kryptonite sliver in Superman’s nervous system, placed there by the Atomica, a traitor working for the Outsider, leader of the Secret Society. Then, the Outsider used the box to open a path across universes, allowing the Crime Syndicate to enter the Justice Leagues' world.[70]
It was later retconned by Gail Simone that Wonder Woman's outfit design had Amazonian roots. During a flashback in Vol. 3, Hippolyta is shown issuing orders to have a garment created for Diana, taking inspiration from the skies on the night Diana was born; a red hunter's moon and a field of stars against deep blue, and the eagle breastplate being a symbol of Athena's avian representations.[volume & issue needed]
In her false memories, the Amazons traditionally procreated by raping and then murdering sailors who happened too close to their island. Hippolyta was barren, and legend told that Diana was born of her mother's strong desire for a child, a lump of clay brought to life in the form of a girl; the perfect Amazon, as she was born of no man.[9] The truth, though, was that Hippolyta had had an affair with Zeus, and Diana's real parentage was hidden in order to protect the Queen and her daughter from the wrath of Zeus' notoriously jealous wife Hera.[10] Unbeknownst to Diana, her mother also gave birth to her twin, a brother named Jason.[11]
Diana succeeded in her trials, defeating numerous monsters including Echidna, the Chimera, the Cyclops, the Hydra, the Harpies, and the Minotaur. Eventually, Pan's bones were discovered on Olympus but it was too late to save Diana from her labors. Joined by her mother, Diana did indeed destroy the demons beneath Themyscira with the help of the amulet of Harmonia (these demons were funneled into Ares). Diana also freed Heracles, who had borne the weight of Themyscira for eons while imprisoned in a stone form and had been scarred by various monsters. Heracles was accepted into Olympus.[9]
Hidden behind this controversy is one reason for all those chains and ropes, which has to do with the history of the fight for women’s rights. Because Marston kept his true relationship with Olive Byrne a secret, he kept his family’s ties to Margaret Sanger a secret, too. Marston, Byrne and Holloway, and even Harry G. Peter, the artist who drew Wonder Woman, had all been powerfully influenced by the suffrage, feminism and birth control movements. And each of those movements had used chains as a centerpiece of its iconography.
Superhuman Reflexes: Wonder Woman's speed also extends to her reflexes, even if she is not moving at super speed, because when a German soldier fired her weapon past her, she could perceive the bullet as if it were moving in slow motion. She repeatedly used this skill to deflect bullets with her Bracelets of Submission and block the blows of her opponents with ease. One hundred years later, Wonder Woman's reflexes improve further, to the point that she was able to block all of the rapid machine-gun shots of a British terrorist with her bracelets, leaving the people standing behind her unscathed. When she dropped her sword mid-battle with Parademons, Wonder Woman was able to perceive Flash super speeding towards her fallen weapon, and hence outstretched her hand while he returned the sword to her grasp. Her reflexes were not powerful enough to contend with those of Flash or resurrected Superman, however, as Superman managed to grasp Wonder Woman's Bracelets of Submission before she could clash them.
Receiving a signal from Chief, she infiltrates Ludendorff's base. She and General Ludendorff fight each other where Diana kills him. Thinking that killing Ludendorff would solve the problem, she gets confused when she sees the German soldiers loading the weapons onto the planes thinking that humankind is corrupted and it doesn't deserve her help.[3]
Another major outfit change for Wonder Woman came about as part of DC Comics' 2011 relaunch of its entire line of publications, The New 52. The character's original one-piece outfit was restored, although the color combination of red and blue was changed to dark red and blue-black. Her chest-plate, belt and tiara were also changed from gold to a platinum or sterling silver color. Along with her sword, she now also utilizes a shield. She wears many accessories such as arm and neck jewelry styled as the "WW" motif. Her outfit is no longer made of fabric, as it now resembles a type of light, flexible body armor. Her boots are now a very dark blue rather than red. The design previously included black trousers, but they were removed and the one-piece look was restored during the time of publication.[196]
Superhuman Stamina: Wonder Woman's advanced musculature is considerably more efficient than that of a human and most of the other Amazons. As a result, her muscles virtually do not produce fatigue toxins during physical activity compared to humans and most other members of her race. Her virtually inexhaustible endurance allows her to exercise her maximum capacity for an indefinite period of time without tiring at all, as she never needs to slow down or catch her breath during her fierce battles with Ares, Doomsday, Steppenwolf and the resurrected Superman, despite being pressured considerably by all of them.
In 1954, Dr. Fredric Wertham alleged that there were lesbian subtexts to Wonder Woman and claimed comics contributed to juvenile delinquency in his book Seduction of the Innocent where despite a very obvious heterosexual relationship with Steve Trevor, Wertham asserted that Wonder Woman’s association with the Holliday Girls could be interpreted as a lesbian relationship. The Comics Code Authority was then introduced in reaction to Wertham 's claims against the entire industry.